WRS Nashville Half: One Month To Go!
Associate Editor Caitlyn Pilkington is sharing her journey to the starting line of the WRS Half in Nashville!
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The 30 days leading up to your big race is always a reality—and gut—check. How much have you REALLY been training? Is your nutrition dialed? Did you have too many beers last night? Are you actually registered for the race? Well, if you’re not—register to run with me at womensrunning.com/Nashville. (I mean, you get a sweet medal and free mimosas at the finish—basically a no brainer!)
I invite all you lady runners to follow along as I expose some real training truths over the next four weeks before I toe the line at Women’s Running Nashville on Sept. 27 in Tennessee—hopefully with all of you! The first truth? I haven’t really been training—at least I don’t call it that. For the first time since I was a wee high school student, my running has become more of a habit in the high-mileage area of half-marathon training. That basically means that running is routine, so my routine is basically training without having to be in the training mindset. (I’m going to chew off my first marathon in January, so I’ll be sure to humbly grumble about how that’s not the truth toward the end of the year.)
That said, I ran last night and discovered that I still call to music to get me off my butt sometimes. That is until my iPod died mid-run, and I turned to the crashing waves and light foot pounding to guide me home. It was actually pretty calming and eased a lot of nerves that build up during Mondays. The sunset was just setting as well—I sidestepped a small leashed furrball to snap a photo!
Still, the run was honestly less than optimal. I’ve been pretty wishy washy about running for the last two weeks or so, partly due to exhaustion, partly do to resting before marathon training. But I survived and rallied to finish 6 miles and work up a sweat before dinner. I also reeled in a realistic and satisfying goal for the race: go under 1:42, which is my general standing goal for all half marathons.
Plus, I had my Hokas, so those gave me some extra spring. Note for the notoriously injured runner (me): Hokas are a great transition shoe from no running to running again. The added cushion makes a formerly fractured foot very happy.
Other than that, there was nothing really to report home about—I snapped some photos of the gorg area I live in. Whenever you need an added pull out the door, soak in the scenery of your surroundings. We live in this world, and it’s a pretty sweet place to run.
Follow along every Wednesday and Friday leading up to #WRSNashville to see what other mischief Caitlyn gets into during her runs—and don’t forget to follow @runwrs on Instagram and Twitter for race-day announcements!
Register for the 5K or half marathon at womensrunning.com/Nashville before the price increases on August 31. Save an extra $15* with online code RUNWITHCAIT. If you have training questions for your own half marathon, tweet @caitpilk!
*Code valid for half marathon only